All Change
by TheSecondEvil
Summary: AU - Set after Season Two, Lana has gone searching for Clark in Metropolis and he has a surprise for her.
1. Metropolis

All Change  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own the TV show Smallville or any of its characters; they belong to a combination of the WB and DC comics.  
  
Spoilers: Only for rumours about the beginning of Season Three of Smallville and the end of Season Two if you haven't seen it yet.  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
Lana had found him working 'Security' for Morgan Edge's Club Steel where he had mainly been doing the job of a bouncer, among other things. The club had been very busy as it often was in the late hours on a Friday so he took her out into the alleyway to talk, although as he was on red meteor rocks at the time he had something else on his mind.  
  
"Clark, why do people keeping calling you Kal and why did you leave Smallville and why are you working here for Morgan Edge?" Lana asked desperately  
  
"It's my secret identity, and now I've got a question for you Lana. Why are you here? Believe it or not, not everyone wants to live in Smallville for the rest of their lives, I'm just getting out early."  
  
"Really, I thought you were running away from what happened at the farm."  
  
"Look Lana, I really appreciate you coming out here to see me, I do, but why don't you just go back to Boringville and leave me the hell alone."  
  
With that Clark walked off back towards the club's entrance. Lana sighed and decided maybe he would be more agreeable tomorrow when he was not working. As she reached the entrance to the alley a group of drunken frat guys grabbed her and before she could scream they covered her mouth then they manhandled her back to the far end of the alley.  
  
While Clark had been in his red meteor affected state, he still did not want to see Lana hurt so once again thinking that Edge was going to dock his wages for this he ran after them.  
  
"Hey there little girly, wanna have some fun." One of the frat guys said as he groped at her halter-top.  
  
"Yo guys, leave her alone."  
  
"Take a hike farmboy." The lead frat guy spat before turning back to Lana.  
  
Clark started to laugh, "That ain't gonna happen, now I'm gonna ask you one more time."  
  
"Marcus, deal with this piece of trash."  
  
As the words had left the lead frat guy's mouth, one of them had broken off and started making his way towards Clark who then charged him at super- speed knocking the frat guy ten foot in the air and fifteen foot backwards where he landed against the alley's back wall with a crash. Clark then turned towards the remaining frat guys and with a smirk on his face asked.  
  
"Come on then, who wants some?"  
  
Three of the four remaining frat guys left Lana and strolled over to Clark picking up anything that could be used as a weapon as they went, bottles, pipes, wood slats. As the first one took a swing at him Clark grabbed the guys fist in mid-punch and used it to toss the guy over into a nearby dumpster. The other two frat guys took Clark on at the same time, while Marcus had recovered from his collusion with the wall and jumped Clark from behind.  
  
Lana was watching all this unfold while trying to struggle out from the grasp of the remaining frat guy, in the end she relied on the old tried and tested method of kicking the guy square in the testicles causing him to lose his grip on her and enabling her to deliver a devastating roundhouse kick to his head.  
  
As Lana turned to see how Clark was faring against Marcus and the other frat guys she saw a few things that she wasn't expecting. Firstly, she saw that the frat boy who had been thrown in the dumpster had also recovered and Clark was currently tackling four frat guys at the same time. Secondly, she saw that both Marcus and the dumpster frat boy's clothes were on fire with the real surprise being that the fire's source was Clark's eyes.  
  
As Lana stood there gaping in shock at what was happening the other two frat guys took advantage of Clark being distracted and hit him with a 2X4 which knocked him against the alley wall and Lana noticed that the gemstone in Clark's class ring shattered.  
  
With that the dangerous gleam left Clark's eyes and was replaced by confusion until the frat guys took another swing at him with what remained of the 2X4 and he was brought back to the situation he had caused through his ill thought actions. No longer taking pleasure in scuffling with the frat guys, Clark simply punched them all out and put out the flames on the other two frat guys. He then turned to see if Lana was okay and was ready to protect her from the last remaining frat guy, when he noticed that she was standing there gawping at him and the other frat guy was laying on the floor in the fetal position seemingly unable to decide whether to cradle his head or his testicles.  
  
"Are you ok?" //Hopefully she didn't see anything.// Clark thought.  
  
"What just happened?"  
  
"What do you mean?" //Uh oh, play dumb Clark maybe she's just really impressed with your brawling//  
  
"The flames coming out of your eyes Clark, that's what I mean!!!"  
  
"What are you talking about Lana, there were no flames coming out of my eyes."  
  
"Really Clark so how do you explain the fact that those two frat guys clothes were burning."  
  
"Welllllll, you see one of the guys must have been a smoker and during the kafuffle must have accidentally spilt lighter fluid over their clothes and a match must have accidentally lit causing the lighter fluid to catch fire."  
  
"Do you really expect me to believe that?" Lana said trying to keep the smile off her face at Clark's really bad lying.  
  
"Yes" Clark said straight-faced.  
  
They both then collapsed with laughter, eventually once they both had themselves under control Lana asked Clark the question he had been dreading.  
  
"Clark, what are you?"  
  
For a moment Clark struggled with the decision of whether to tell her the truth, remembering her reaction when he had asked her about her thoughts on aliens when Cyrus had been around and then he decided he had to do the right thing.  
  
"Lana, I'm an alien."  
  
Lana stood there speechless unable to process what Clark had just told her which was nothing like what she was expecting, she figured the meteor rocks had affected him in some way or that he had been experimented on by LuthorCorp as a child.  
  
"Look Lana I don't think this is the best place to discuss this, look the apartment I've been staying in isn't that far from here we can talk about this there."  
  
Lana still in a state of shock had simply nodded and said "Ok"  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
Roughly half an hour later Clark and Lana were sitting in an apartment that Clark had been renting using the money he earned working for Morgan Edge plus some extra he had got knocking over some of Metropolis' banks in a series of superspeed robberies.  
  
"So you're the last remaining member of a race whose planet exploded and you have superpowers including but not limited to" she quickly added "Invulnerability, Heat Vision, Superstrength, Superspeed and X-ray Vision. The green meteor rocks cause you intense physical pain and the red ones cause you to become that obnoxious asshole who rode off on a motorcycle after Lex's wedding."  
  
"Yes" Clark replied with a hint of hope in his voice, it sounded like she might be okay with this.  
  
"I can't believe you lied to me Clark, all this time I felt we were growing so close but now I find that there's this whole other side to you that you've kept from me."  
  
This had been the kind of reaction Clark had been dreading "I kept it from you because I was afraid of your reaction if you found out if I wasn't like other guys."  
  
"What you think I couldn't handle it?" Lana inquired with a hint of anger.  
  
"Remember your reaction when I asked you how you'd feel if Cyrus had really been an alien?"  
  
"I said it would freak me out, and it was a hypothetical situation I was thinking how I thought I'd react, anyway Cyrus is a completely different person and my feelings were completely different towards him." Lana replied angrily  
  
"Look I'm sorry Lana, but I did what I thought was best."  
  
"I know you did Clark, but you lied to me and that's worse than finding out if you're different."  
  
"Lana."  
  
"Come on Clark, your parents are worried about you lets get you packed and ready to go home."  
  
"I don't think my mom and dad want me around any more."  
  
"What are you talking about, Clark?" 


	2. The Ride Home

Disclaimer: I do not own the TV show Smallville or any of its characters; they belong to a combination of the WB and DC comics. I also do not own the lyrics to Evanescence's song 'Taking Over Me'.  
  
Spoilers: Only for rumours about the beginning of Season Three of Smallville and the end of Season Two if you haven't seen it yet.  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
Lana had eventually convinced Clark that even though he was responsible for his mother's miscarriage his parents would still want him to come home, she told him that they'd been worried sick the past few months.  
  
Clark quit his job at Club Steel and dropped off the remainder of the money from the bank robberies at the banks in question. To make up the difference Clark sold the motorbike and pawned the possessions he'd bought with his ill-gotten gains. When it had all been totaled up he had enough money for the bus journey back to Smallville, plus the remainder of the money Edge had paid him for working at Club Steel and his CD Walkman.  
  
It was a long ride as Lana would not speak to him and he had no way of distracting himself and so his thoughts turned to the consequences of his actions, his heart still ached over the loss of his mom's baby, the sibling he would now never have. He also pondered the damage to his relationship with Chloe, she had gotten really worked up over his relationship with Lana, which now pretty much looked like a non-starter. Had it been really worth it?  
  
Sighing in frustration Clark took his Walkman from his backpack and decided to listen to some music to alleviate the boredom, he picked one of his CD's out at random and pressed play.  
  
You don't remember me  
  
But I remember you  
  
I lie awake and try so hard  
  
Not to think of you  
  
But who can decide what they dream?  
  
And dream I do.  
  
I believe in you  
  
I'll give up everything just to find you  
  
I have to be with you to live to breathe  
  
You're taking over me  
  
.  
  
Hours later, Lana shook Clark awake, he'd fallen asleep listening to the CD and during that time the bus had arrived in Smallville he turned off the CD player and put it back in his backpack. He then got up and with Lana stepped off the bus onto Smallville's bus station, looking around Clark was struck with a sudden thought.  
  
"Umm Lana, how are we supposed to get to the farm from here?"  
  
"What's the matter, your powers on the blink." Lana sarcastically remarked  
  
"No, but it's a bit public." Clark gritted through his teeth, her rotation between constant sniping and the silent treatment was starting to irritate.  
  
"Fine, I'll give Pete a ring with my cell phone."  
  
"I never knew you had a cell phone."  
  
"I never knew you were an alien, its all about sharing Clark, you tell me something about you I tell you something about me."  
  
"What? Besides your dead parents." As soon as the words were out of his mouth he regretted them, even more so when he saw her flinty expression falter and then come back stronger than ever.  
  
Lana rang Pete and from what Clark could hear he sounded very happy to hear that Clark was back, he was pretty sure he heard whoops of joy. This just seemed to increase Lana's nasty disposition and Clark decided that the most sensible course of action would be to keep quiet until Pete arrived.  
  
"How long is Pete gonna be?"  
  
"A few minutes, he's just about to finish his shift at The Talon so he's not that far away."  
  
"How come Pete's working at The Talon?"  
  
"He needed a job over the summer and I needed the extra help, plus someone had to look after the place while I hauled your ass back here."  
  
"Oh." Clark exclaimed  
  
It was a couple of minutes before Clark dared speak again and hoping that he could make things right started "Lana listen I'm sorry about." When he was interrupted by Pete's arrival, typically with the stereo turned up to max.  
  
"Clark man where you been? I've been worried."  
  
"Metropolis, I was on red meteor rocks."  
  
"Um what are you talking about Clark?" Pete asked, looking at him as if he'd suddenly gone insane.  
  
"Lana knows, Pete." Clark replied meaningfully  
  
"Wait, he knows?" Lana asked  
  
"Wait, she knows?" Pete asked  
  
"Guys, now is really not the time, we can talk about this later."  
  
Reluctantly they both dropped the matter and scrambled into Pete's car, the journey to the Kent farm was a fairly silent one, with Clark occasionally trying to alleviate the tension by attempting small talk with Pete about what he'd been doing while he was away. It turned out Pete was working at The Talon as his parents thought he needed to spend his free time doing something productive over the summer, rather than sitting at home. Once again, Clark was struck by the effect his departure had had on the people in his life, who he hadn't given a second thought to and once more he felt remorse.  
  
"You can drop me off here, Pete." Clark said as they approached the boundary of the Kent farm.  
  
"Are you sure, you don't want me to drop you off by the porch?"  
  
"No I'll be alright, it'll be best if I take it slowly rather than just appearing outside the front door." Clark then turned to Lana "Can we talk?"  
  
"Ok."  
  
They walked away from the car so that Pete wouldn't be able to hear them and then they turned to one another.  
  
"Lana, before Pete turned up I was going to."  
  
"Look Clark I'm tired, you're tired we both said some things that we may or may not have meant and I'm not having the best time at the moment and you drop this huge secret on me, my minds just a bit full at the moment. An apology is not gonna change anything, not right now."  
  
"Is there anything I can do?"  
  
"I'll be alright in a bit, just give me some space."  
  
"Ok Lana, but I have to ask you to do something for me." Clark said slightly uncomfortable with what he had to say.  
  
"Lemme guess, not tell anyone about your secret." At Clark's nod, she allowed herself a little half smile. "At the very least Clark, we're still friends and I don't want anything too bad to happen to you." She gave him a peck on the cheek and then ran to Pete's car, jumped in and they both sped off home.  
  
Slightly surprised at Lana's actions he turned, slightly dazed, braced himself and walked up to the house. The walk took a couple of minutes but felt like hours to the nervous Clark, while he may be bulletproof he felt like a rejection from his parents would shatter him into a thousand pieces.  
  
He knocked on the front door.  
  
No answer  
  
He knocked again  
  
Still no answer  
  
With a feeling of trepidation in his heart he entered the house, he checked the whole house over at superspeed to find that no-one was there.  
  
He heard distant voices and approached the barn, there was no-one at the bottom, but he could see two silhouettes up where his stuff was. Feeling awkward about how to handle this, Clark simply decided to cough and pray for the best.  
  
**COUGH**  
  
His parents turned and saw him, his dad barreled down the stairs and swept him up into what to anyone else would have felt like a bone-crushing hug, but to Clark it felt like the most wonderful thing in the world. His mom was holding her hand to her face in shock and had started crying, Clark hoped they were tears of joy and not sadness.  
  
His dad eventually let him go, and turned to him with an expectant air. "Where the hell have you been?" 


	3. Lionel's Experiments

Disclaimer: I do not own the TV show Smallville or any of its characters; they belong to a combination of the WB and DC comics.  
  
Author's Note: Thanks to all those that have reviewed, and especially to C.K.7980 who added me to her favourites. :-)  
  
Lionel Luthor was currently sitting in the back of his Aston Martin on his way to S.T.A.R Labs, to check on the two projects he was currently funding. He'd just ended a call with his most recent employee, Miss Chloe Sullivan, she'd turned up nothing so far in her investigation of Clark Kent. But then he'd never really hired her for her investigative skills with a computer, he'd expected her to use her relationship with him to find out exactly what he was hiding. Although that plan had been slightly derailed by Clark's departure from Smallville, Lionel had confidence he would return, Clark Kent was not the type to abandon his family, it meant too much to him.  
  
The Aston pulled up outside S.T.A.R. Labs and his driver got out and opened the door for him, Lionel swept out of the Aston and into S.T.A.R. Labs. He took the elevator down into a subterranean level that was restricted to anyone who did not have Lionel Luthor's express permission. As the elevator doors opened Lionel took in the glorious sight of the research he had been funding for the last year or so. There were a number of containment tanks lined up against the back wall all glowing with a red radiance and in the centre was a single tank glowing green.  
  
"Dr. Tang" Lionel called out as he entered the lab "where are you?"  
  
A research assistant appeared as if from nowhere as research assistants often do, much like sales assistants.  
  
"Dr. Tang currently up in the main research area of S.T.A.R Labs Mr. Luthor, she'll be back in about five minutes."  
  
"That is unacceptable" Lionel snapped "she calls me here telling me it's urgent only to not be here when I arrive, this better not be some stupid power game."  
  
"I assure you Mr. Luthor it is not." Said a voice behind him  
  
Lionel turned and saw that Dr. Tang had just arrived in the elevator, she was about 5 ft 3 and was of Asian appearance, her short black hair was carefully arranged in a way that most scientists would not both with. The sight of her reminded Lionel why he'd initially been attracted to her when he had first employed her to explore the possible uses of the meteor rocks.  
  
"I was dealing with a member of staff who is becoming a bit too inquisitive into just what we're doing down here." Dr. Tang explained  
  
"Hmm, what did you do?"  
  
"I told him I was working on an important project for a company called Yohan Industries.  
  
Lionel smiled, Yohan Industries was the front business he was using to secretly fund this project, simply because any scientific project with the name LuthorCorp attached often attracted media attention, which was definitely not what he needed.  
  
"Good, now what was so urgent that you called me here?"  
  
"Test subject #018 has recently perished during the testing phase, I need you to obtain another subject for me."  
  
"What happened?" Lionel prodded  
  
"#018, seemed to have no biological reaction to the reagent whatsoever, when put in 'The Run' he showed no reaction to the stimuli and died due to one of the obstacles."  
  
"Will this abject failure be of any use at all?"  
  
"We're planning on dissecting #018's remains to discover whether there actually was no reaction to the reagent or whether it was something so insignificant that we wouldn't have picked it up. Plus it allows for a closer look at how the reagent interacts with the human body."  
  
"Right, well I guarantee that by the end of the week you will have your new subject, now was there anything else?"  
  
"Yes, actually. Project Gemini is coming along very well, it should be completed in a few weeks, the DNA sample you provided has reacted with the birthing mixture quite bizarrely."  
  
"How do you mean?" asked Lionel  
  
"Well firstly, the birthing mixture seemed to be having an adverse affect on the first attempt, however once we dialed down the dosage of the original reagent in the solution we were successful and Gemini is growing at an incredible rate."  
  
"Excellent, well thank you Dr. Tang as always it's a pleasure seeing you."  
  
"Mr. Luthor" Dr. Tang said curtly before returning to work at one of the display panels.  
  
At that Lionel gave a quick glance towards the containment tank that glowed green, eagerly awaiting the day that was soon to come when he would open that container and the answers he wanted, no, needed, were there spread out before him. He then swept from the room back into the elevator, endured a short trip in the elevator to the lobby and then exited to his awaiting limo. Once there he picked up his carphone and dialed the number of an old friend of his in Metropolis.  
  
"Good afternoon, this is Club Steel how may I help you?"  
  
"Hello, I'd like to speak to Morgan Edge please."  
  
"Mr. Edge is unavailable right now, would you like to leave a message?"  
  
"No, find your boss, tell him it's Lionel Luthor and that it's important."  
  
"I'm sorry, Mr. Edge is."  
  
"NOW!!!" Lionel shouted down the phone.  
  
That must have done the trick because the next voice Lionel heard was Morgan Edge's.  
  
"Hey there Lionel, you trying to scare my secretary?"  
  
"She was being obstructive."  
  
"Hmm, sounds like you're in a hurry."  
  
"Yes, I need you to secure another subject for me immediately."  
  
"To be honest Lionel, I'm not sure I can do that for you, sooner or later people are going to start noticing plus this sort of thing is high-risk for my guys. Not to mention I just recently lost one of my best employees, guys name was Kal, solid worker." Edge lamented  
  
Lionel's reply came back sounding weary and resigned "I'll pay double."  
  
"No problem."  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
Later that evening on the streets of Metropolis, David Brookston was searching for a place to sleep, his unwashed clothes stuck to him like a second skin and his hair was unkempt. He had been too late to get access to the homeless shelter so now he was just searching for a warm place where he could get a couple of hours sleep before resuming his begging tomorrow.  
  
Eventually he found an unoccupied dumpster in the back alley nearby a restaurant, it had recently been filled with trash bags that on closer inspection seemed to contain food scraps. David decided that the trash bags looked fairly comfortable and the scraps could be good for breakfast tomorrow morning, so he started to climb in.  
  
He was just about halfway in when he felt two pairs of strong arms grab him from behind and pull him back onto the ground.  
  
"Hey man, if you want to sleep there you can alright, I don't want any trouble." David said  
  
"Pathetic" said one of his attackers; he then shot David with a tranquilizer gun.  
  
David felt the dart hit him and the edges of his vision started to blur, his only thought being 'I wonder if they're gonna take me somewhere warm' as he blacked out. 


	4. The Barn & The Island

Disclaimer: I do not own the TV show Smallville or any of its characters; they belong to a combination of the WB and DC comics.  
  
Spoilers: Only for rumours about the beginning of Season Three of Smallville and the end of Season Two if you haven't seen it yet.  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
Clark was sitting up in the barn staring into the early evening sky, it had been a long day what with Lana bringing him home and the discussion he had with his parents. While they were overjoyed to have him back home, Clark sensed a shade of melancholy hidden beneath the surface of their feelings. He was unsure as to how his relationship with his parents would develop from now on, but he could only hope it would become stronger in the face of everything that had happened. There was a glimmer of hope though because after Clark had gotten through talking to his parents they had grounded him for running away and donning the red meteor rock ring. Under normal circumstances Clark would have been upset about being grounded, but he realized he needed to take responsibility for his actions, plus it showed his parents still cared about him.  
  
His thoughts turned to Lex's death, it had been something he'd been trying not to concentrate on since he'd come out of his red meteor rock influenced state, as when he did he got very sad. His parents had expressed surprise that Clark had known about it, but he'd explained that news as big as Lex Luthor dying was something that not even his selfish existence under the influence of the red meteor rocks could have failed to notice. Although some of the circumstances surrounding the crash raised his suspicions, such as the fact that Lex's body was never found and that Helen had survived and now stood to inherit everything Lex had owned.  
  
Eventually Clark heard the noise he was hoping for, the distant sound of a car driving towards the Kent farm, after the talk with his parents he had rung Pete so that they could talk about everything that had happened and it sounded like he had nearly arrived.  
  
Clark went down and out of the barn to go and greet Pete as he pulled up right where they play basketball together whenever they need to burn off nervous energy and discuss things.  
  
"Hey Pete, you wanna play ball?"  
  
"Nah Clark we've got a lot to talk about and I'd rather be somewhere warm."  
  
"Ok, let's go in the barn. I'll go make us some hot chocolate and we can get down to it."  
  
"Ok"  
  
Clark went over into the kitchen and made them both some hot chocolate, cutting some corners using his heat vision, something he'd learned under the influence of the red meteor rocks, although it was less hot chocolate and more sambuca. He then walked back to the barn and found Pete waiting for him, sitting in a chair, he handed Pete the hot chocolate and asked "Where do I start?"  
  
"The beginning's always the best place." Pete pointed out  
  
"Right, well." and so Clark explained everything. Including the consequences of their plan to destroy the ship with the green meteor rock key, Chloe's hostile reaction to his relationship with Lana and then how he just felt like he needed to escape from everything, hence the red meteor rock ring. Plus of course, everything he'd done under its influence and how Lana had caused him to come back.  
  
"Wow, all I did this summer was work at The Talon."  
  
"Yeah Lana told me about that, how come you started working there?"  
  
"Clark, you leaving had a really bad effect on Lana, she became obsessed with finding you and I was worried she might become emotionally unbalanced, so I took a job at The Talon to keep an eye on her."  
  
"Thanks. Pete." Clark replied gratefully  
  
"Hey man I didn't do it for you, I was concerned about her. Anyway it gave me something to do over the summer."  
  
Clark knew from Pete's words that he had also felt abandoned by Clark's behavior, he had just coped in a different way to Lana and unable to think of anything to say they sat in awkward silence for a few minutes.  
  
"So, how come Lana knows about you being ET?" Pete asked, breaking the silence  
  
"Well after she saw me use my heat vision there was no way around it. I tried to bluff my way out of it but she didn't exactly believe my story about how the thugs clothes had caught fire."  
  
"Which was?"  
  
"That one of the guys must have been a smoker and during the fight must have accidentally spilt lighter fluid over their clothes and a match must have accidentally lit causing the lighter fluid to catch fire."  
  
"That was the best you could come up with?" Pete got out between gales of laughter  
  
"Hey, I was thinking on my feet."  
  
"Well I'm glad you don't have to do that too often."  
  
Once his laughter had died down Pete's expression sobered and he asked Clark "Did your parent's tell you about Lex?"  
  
"Yeah but I already knew, the plane crash was pretty much all over the place, even under the influence of the meteor rocks I couldn't have failed to notice it. The thing is."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I just feel like he's still alive out there, somewhere."  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
The cool seabreeze coming off the ocean awoke Lex as usual at first light, he wiped the sleep out of his eyes and sat up to give the ocean a customary glance in the vain hope of rescue before diving in for a wash. He'd lost track of the days he had been stuck on this island since the plane crash and he had been unable to salvage anything from the plane wreck as it was currently 100 ft below sea level. After he had finished cleansing himself in the sea he strode back onto the beach and picked up the remnants of his suit jacket and used it to dry himself off. Then he grabbed his shirt, which he had torn the sleeves off of to keep cool, and slipped it on, he finished clothing himself by putting on the suit trousers he had torn from knee level.  
  
Now fully dressed, Lex now had to make the journey to the other side of the island where the only other inhabitant lived so he could borrow his magnifying glass, which was the only way to make fire on the island. Early on in Lex's stay on the island he had gotten on quite well with his neighbor, to the extent they had become close friends, however as time went by each started to aggravate the other to the extent they couldn't even sleep near one another. So Lex had moved out of the makeshift hut and out onto the beach, only returning to the hut in need of tools or shelter from bad weather.  
  
The trail across the island was still difficult no matter how many times Lex used it, everyday the ground seemed to shift causing him to come into contact with various insect colonies and plantlife that seemed to exist for no other reason than to piss him off. Today Lex disturbed a large ant's nest and tripped over a very large log, but he eventually made it to the hut of Louis Leery Jr.  
  
Louis at that moment in time was waist-deep in the sea and seemed to be attempting to fish, until Lex had arrived Louis had been living off what he could forage from the island as he could not fish. Lex's survival training and general ingenuity served him well in being able to catch fish; he simply improvised a fishing net from the torn off pieces of clothing and his tie. However, even when Lex let Louis borrow the fishing net he still had difficulty catching any fish, normally coming back with only one or two after hours of trying. So Louis had gone back to his tried and tested method of trying to grab the fish with his hands, believing he had more success that way.  
  
"Hey Louis" Lex called out  
  
Louis stopped his unsuccessful attempts at fishing and stalked over to Lex, Louis was about 5 ft 11 and had wet scruffy hair from diving about in the sea for the past couple of hours.  
  
"What do you want Lex?" Louis asked walking straight past him to his hut.  
  
"I need the magnifying glass, why else would I come here?"  
  
"I'm busy" Louis said shortly  
  
Lex tried reaching inside the hut, but Louis blocked his way and seemed to be slightly jittery.  
  
"Come on Louis I'm not asking for much, just give me the magnifying glass."  
  
"No Lex, come back later." Louis told him, starting to shake  
  
Lex noticed Louis' body language and asked him "What are you hiding, Louis?"  
  
"N-nothing"  
  
Lex quickly assessed the situation and realizing Louis was not about to let him pass swung a right hook at him; it was just enough to daze Louis while Lex changed his stance and drove a knee into Louis' abdomen. Louis fell to the side allowing Lex full access to the hut, originally his only intention had been to get the magnifying glass and go start a fire to cook himself breakfast, but now he was intrigued.  
  
He searched the hut high and low, but was only able to find Louis' various possessions arranged in a haphazard manner, they included clothing, berries & other foraged food, a flashlight with no batteries and Louis' journal. Until he noticed that some of Louis' clothing seemed to be arranged as if to hide something, as Lex went to remove the clothes, Louis jumped him from behind. Lex quickly disposed of him by flipping Louis' over his head into the hut's right wall. Louis lay on the ground spitting blood while Lex removed the clothes to reveal a two-way radio. Lex checked it over, his hands shaking with excitement and discovered that it was working and attuned to a specific frequency.  
  
Suddenly the implications of what this meant flooded Lex's brain and he turned to face Louis angrily.  
  
"You were going to leave me behind, WHY?" Lex yelled, being stuck on this island for such a long time had caused Lex's emotions to rise to the surface more often.  
  
"I wasn't, it's just that they told me they would only have room for one, I was gonna send them back for you, honest." Louis replied pleadingly  
  
Lex suddenly had another thought "How long have you had this?"  
  
"Well. uh."  
  
"ANSWER ME!!!" Lex bellowed  
  
"A few days, it washed up inside a waterproof bag, I think it came from your plane."  
  
A sudden calm washed over Lex as he realized what he had to do, he picked up a rock from the floor and approached Louis slowly, and his jaw clamped shut determined that what must be done, must be done. 


End file.
